у
THE STATE
A Weekly Survey of North Carolina
Kil«r*il if sccond-dMi matter. June I, 19.13. nt lh« Pmtoffire at Raleigh, North
Carolina, under ilir Arl of March 3. IH79.
Vol. VIII. No. 11 August 10, 1940
Rambling in
Person County
$C|>nr2ifck lirjivos for saiiif.s aiul
sinners. . . .
Л
woman wlio lias
walked more Ilian 200.000 iniUvs.
. . . Kraut if nl Cliub bake . . . His¬
toric* Flat River Clinrcli an«l
Payne's Tavern. . . . And many
oilier places of interest.
Person County Courthouse at
Roxboro.
Ki/ CARL COLKCII
P\GK Mr. Pete Murphy. pleas»*.”
“Here I hiii ; what do you
want
Г
"Mr. Murphy, we believe von have
the reputation of knowing consider-
ablo history about North Carolina?"
"Maybe I do. anil maybe I don’t.”
"We have a question we’d like to
usk you, Mr. Murphy."
"Well, go ahead and ask it.”
“Mr. Murphy : can you tell us where
Uollv Madison was born?"
"Why. any ten-ycar-old sehotd-ehihl
can answer that question. She was
born in (anil ford County, of course:
there’s a marker along the highway,
mentioning that fact.”
"Sorry. Mr. Murphy, hut you
missed that one."
“I did no such <>f a damned thing.
Holly Madi.ou was born in Guilford
County and that’s all there is to it."
Of course the above conversation i-
of a purely hypothetical nature, but
wo believe that if we had been in ac¬
tual contact with Mr. Murphy, it
would have been along the same gen¬
eral lines.
I’ntil Thursday of last week we.
too, had thought there was no ques¬
tion about the birthplace of the wife
of President Madison, hut after hav¬
ing spent tin- day in Person County
with Mr. F.
П.
Long ami Miss Hossic
Daniel, we’re inclined to change our
mind about the subject.
One »»f the oldest churches in North
Carolina i* located up in that section.
It is known as Flat River Church.
The records go back t<> ITS.'», and old-
timers say that their fathers and
grandfathers told them that the first
hook of these records niite-datinir
lTS'i — lias been lost. So the chances
arc that the church was built a num¬
ber of years before IT*.'».
The church has a large chimney ami
fireplace in it. and even t*> this date,
when the weather is eool hill not quite
cold enough for making a lire in the
stove, they build a fire in the firepli . .
There’s a shed attached to the main
portion of the church, and that was
where tin1 colored folks used to 'it.
Ill the early days of the church, both
coloml ami white members were ac¬
cepted. We believe that Mis. Bcs-ie
told us that then* still is one colored
member of the church, even t»> this
«late.
Anyway getting hack to Holly
Madison: originally she was Holly
Payne. She married a Philadelphia
lawyer by the name of Todd. The
story is that her father owed around
#2.<Hlft to Mr. Todd. The hitter agreed
to cancel tin* debt if the senior Mr.
Payne would let him marry his «laugh¬
ter, Holly. An agreeiimiit, -atisfnetory
to all parties, was reached, ami Mis.
Payne became Mr-. Todd. They had
two ehildrcn. Then her husband and
one child died, ami a few years later
the widow married .lames Mndi.on.
who became President of the I nited
Stales.
Now then, with reference to her
birth: Mr. ami Mrs. Payne Dolly’s
father and mother — were on their way
from Phiholelphia t«» Guilford
County. They stopped at Payne’s
Tavern. Person County, and it was
there that Holly Payne, or Holly
Madison was lorn. Some of the older
residents of the county claim that
their parents ami grandparent» have
seen the page in the missing church
hook which recorded the birth of Dolly
Payne at that place. soon as Mrs.
Payne was able to travel with her
new ha hv. Mr. Payne and the family
resumed their journey to Gnilf«»rd
County, and it was at tin- church there
that the birth of Dolly Payne was
officially recorded. However — offi-
einlly or unofficially — the people "f
Person County today are a. firmly
convince! that Dolly Madison was
horn in Person County as they are